At least 30 people were killed in Syria Friday as security forces fired on protesters rallying against President Bashar al-Assad's government.
News reports quote witnesses and activists who say security forces fired live rounds at protesters in the central city of Homs, killing at least 11 people, including a child. At least 12 people were said to have been killed in the northern town of Maaret al-Numan. Other deaths were reported in the port city of Latakia, the Damascus suburb of Daraya and the central town of Hama.
Warning shots were also fired at demonstrators in the Mediterranean port of Banias.
The French News Agency (AFP) quoted the head of a Kurdish rights group as saying some of the protesters held olive branches as they called for more freedom.
The accounts could not be independently verified as Syria has banned foreign journalists from the country.
Syrian rights activists say more than 850 civilians have been killed since mid-March, when protesters began calling for democratic reforms and Assad's ouster. Authorities have arrested at least 7,000 people as part of a government crackdown.
On Wednesday, the United States imposed sanctions on Assad and six of his aides. The U.S. said it was holding them personally accountable for the deadly attacks by the security forces.
In a major speech on the Middle East Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama called on the Syrian president to lead a transition to democracy or "get out of the way."
Syria's official news agency said Obama's address amounted to incitement. The Syrian government has blamed the unrest on armed gangs and foreign agitators.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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The former head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has been released from a sexual assault charges, several days after his arrest on sexual assault charges.
A New York judge Friday ordered the release of Strauss-Kahn after he posted $1 million in bail and a $5 million insurance bond.
State Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus assigned Strauss-Kahn to a temporary housing location in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Armed guards will watch him, and he will be monitored electronically.
Strauss-Kahn was accused of sexually assaulting a New York hotel maid last week and could face decades in prison if convicted. He has denied the charges against him.
Earlier this week, he resigned from the top job at the IMF.
Strauss-Kahn faces another court hearing [an arraignment] on June 6, when a judge will describe the charges against the defendant and make sure he understands his legal rights.
Strauss-Kahn is a former French finance minister, and had been expected to soon declare his candidacy for the French presidency.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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Thousands of Spaniards are ignoring a ban on political activity ahead of elections this Sunday and are packing city centers nationwide in a protest against the country's weak economy and high unemployment.
As the ban went into effect early Saturday, demonstrators in Madrid became silent briefly but vowed to continue their protest, which started May 15. Saturday is by law a "day of reflection," meaning political activity is barred. Friday was the last day for candidates to campaign.
Spain's ruling Socialist Party is widely expected to suffer big losses at the polls. The government is presiding over an economy struggling to overcome a recession and create jobs. Spain's unemployment rate stands at 21.3 percent, the highest level in the European Union. The jobless rate for people between the ages of 18 and 25 is even higher, at 45 percent.
The opposition Popular Party is expected to make major gains in the local and regional elections, which could lead to its return to power in general elections due by next March.
The mostly peaceful demonstrations have been organized largely through social media such as Twitter by young protesters who say they were inspired by the protests in Egypt and Tunisia. Those demonstrations brought down the governments in both countries.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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Ivory Coast is preparing for the formal inauguration of President Alassane Ouattara, a ceremonial end to the months of violence that killed at least 3,000 people following the West African nation's disputed election.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are among the dignitaries expected to attend the event Saturday in the capital, Yamoussoukro.
Ouattara was sworn in earlier this month, but Saturday's ceremony will be an occasion for the country to look forward to a new political era. A coup in 1999 kicked off more than a decade of political instability for the former French colony, with a rebel uprising that split the country in two and elections that were repeatedly postponed.
The crisis heightened again after last year's presidential election, when President Laurent Gbagbo, who had ruled Ivory Coast since 2000, refused to step down despite vote counts certified by international observers indicating he had lost.
The standoff triggered four months of fighting, ending only after Gbagbo's arrest by pro-Ouattara forces on April 11. Human rights groups accuse supporters from both sides of killing and injuring civilians in the battle for power.
Analysts say this history will make it a difficult task to restore order and security to the nation once considered a bastion of stability and prosperity in West Africa.
President Ouattara has promised accountability for everyone guilty of atrocities in the post-election violence, including his own supporters.
The International Criminal Court on Friday appointed a panel of judges to investigate the violence. ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has said there is reason to believe serious crimes took place.
The U.N. Security Council has extended its peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast until the end of July.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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Pakistan's prime minister has met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing on the final day of a four-day trip aimed at promoting ties between the two nations. Yousuf Raza Gilani's trip to China follows increased tensions between Pakistan and the United States.
President Hu Jintao congratulated Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for a successful visit to China. He said the trip will take strategic cooperation between the two countries to a higher level.
Gilani said he feels proud and privileged to meet Hu, whom he referred to as a friend.
Media reports quoting Pakistani officials say China agreed to expedite delivery of 50 fighter jets to Pakistan. Pakistan's defense minister Ahmad Mukhtar said his country hopes to get the JF-17 planes within six months.
Chinese officials have not confirmed any new deals for military assistance with Pakistan. But Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the two countries signed several agreements on technology, finance and energy resources.
She says the two countries have set up what she described as "new plans of trade and economic cooperation," with a focus on energy resources, infrastructure and agriculture.
She said the Chinese government also is encouraging Chinese enterprises to expand their investment in Pakistan and strengthen cooperation in trade, finance and technology.
Peking University associate professor of international studies, Dong Wang, says Chinese businesses have not invested much in Pakistan before because they see the South Asian nation as underdeveloped.
"Pakistan's problem is that it's economically so backward. It doesn't have a very good economic base. It doesn't have good infrastructure. It doesn't have good industry. Basically, it doesn't have a good economy. So, that has a lot to do with its own economic situation," said Dong Wang.
Gilani's trip to China closely follows the death of Osama bin Laden, who was killed by US troops inside Pakistan.
The U.S. operation has raised tensions between Pakistan and its largest donor, the United States. Some U.S. lawmakers are calling for significant cuts in aid to Pakistan.
Many analysts see Gilani's visit as Islamabad's opportunity to play-up its relationship with Beijing.
Andrew Small of the German Marshall Fund, a U.S. public policy organization, says the United States and China share the same goal of improving Pakistan's stability. Therefore, he says, Chinese economic assistance to Pakistan is welcome.
At the same time, he says Beijing is not interested in working too closely with U.S. security and development efforts in South Asia.
"When the United States has proposed actual cooperation programs in Afghanistan or vis-a-vis Pakistan, China has been very reluctant to get involved and to operationalize any of the suggestions that have come from the U.S. side. They don't want to become a target and they are happy in some respects to free ride on the fact that the U.S. faces all of the opposition from publics in Afghanistan and in Pakistan," said Andrew Small.
China says that Gilani's trip had been planned weeks in advance as part of events marking the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
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While U.S. President Barack Obama has announced his broad vision for American policy in the Middle East, questions remain on his strategy for one country still wracked by political uncertainty, Yemen.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been a consistent U.S. partner in the fight against a major al-Qaida group based in his country. But he faces a fight for his very survival as he refuses the demands of anti-government activists and fellow Arab states to transfer power. Some analysts say Washington now must convince the people of Yemen that the United States is not pursuing just its own goals in their country as it works with an unpopular ruler to fight militants.
As the brushfire of popular uprisings simmers in some areas of the Middle East, an already precarious situation in Yemen has become even more unstable.
Analysts say months of anti-government demonstrations have offered al-Qaida an opening in the fragile state torn by tribal allegiances, a rebellion in the north and a secessionist movement in the south.
On Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama urged his Yemeni counterpart, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to comply with demands to transfer power. But at the same time, Obama acknowledged that Saleh is a "friend" of America.
Without President Saleh's support over the years, analysts say Washington would have had a tough time going after members of the Yemeni-based group al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
Frederick Kagan is the director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.
Kagan says the U.S. government now faces an even tougher sell convincing Yemenis who want political change that a fight against militants is critical to them.
"Al-Qaida is not the number one problem facing the Yemenis these days," explained Kagan. "And we're going to have to work on bringing interest together. And that means we're going to have to do things for the Yemenis that aren't directly related to killing al-Qaida."
For many Yemenis, their biggest concern is poverty, not terrorists bent on attacking the West. Detractors of Saleh have seized on this issue, saying the president overstates the terror threat and his role in fighting it in order to keep the backing of his foreign allies.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Edmund Hull says that the United States must appease the Yemeni public's concerns in order to successfully fight al-Qaida there.
"The whole public diplomacy of counterterrorism is extremely important - how what we do is not seen purely as serving U.S. interests, but serving broader interests," said Hull. "You have to get that right if you're going to have long-term success. And I think those are areas for improvement and areas that we need to be working on."
U.S. officials say Washington's total assistance to Yemen was more than $300 million in 2010's fiscal year. And while Ambassador Hull says this investment is significant, he believes Washington needs to staff more highly trained civilian workers in the country to complement the counterterrorism military side.
U.S. military officials refuse to talk on the record about operations in Yemen, but Yemeni authorities have acknowledged that U.S. drones are flying over their country. Security experts also say U.S. Special Forces and intelligence agents are most likely assisting Yemeni security forces in targeting al-Qaida.
Jeffery Dressler is a senior analyst at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington. He specializes in the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Dressler says he sees similarities in the U.S. involvement in Yemen with that of the situation in Pakistan.
Both sovereign countries have remote, mountainous regions with fiercely independent groups of people. It is in these areas in Pakistan and Yemen that al-Qaida and other militants are hiding.
Dressler says he foresees Washington's use of unmanned aircraft to remain popular for years to come in these situations.
"It's sort of the option of last resort frankly," Dressler noted. "I mean, they're effective, but they're only effective to a point. They can't eradicate these threats. They can't really prevent these groups from operating. But they can make it more difficult for them to operate."
Several days after U.S. Special Forces shot and killed al-Qaida founder and leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, media reports said the United States launched a missile strike in Yemen targeting a radical U.S.-born cleric with al-Qaida links.
Authorities say Anwar al-Awlaki is a high-ranking member of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
The May 5 strike reportedly missed him, but is said to have killed two other suspected al-Qaida militants.
Katherine Zimmerman is an expert with the American Enterprise Institute on al-Qaida and its associated movements in the Gulf of Aden.
Zimmerman says she does not think these so-called successes in killing militants with unmanned aircraft justify relying on them in the fight against extremism.
"Drone strikes don't work," said Zimmerman. "We've seen that in Yemen before where al-Qaida was greatly and severely disabled when the U.S. took out its leadership in [the] early 2000s, but it was able to reemerge and reestablish itself."
Zimmerman says she believes U.S. efforts must focus on helping Yemen enjoy a stable government and economic improvements. Otherwise, it will remain a breeding ground for militancy.
And while Washington says it is reaching out to Yemen's opposition even as it seeks to remove President Saleh - a U.S. ally - from power, analysts say U.S. actions ultimately will speak louder than words for the people of Yemen.
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The Pakistani Taliban say they are responsible for a deadly bomb attack on two U.S. consulate vehicles in the northwestern city of Peshawar. The militant group said Friday's violence was in revenge for the U.S. raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan earlier this month.
The blast in Peshawar occurred in the morning hours as U.S. personnel were traveling to work at the American consulate in a two-vehicle, armored convoy.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Alberto Gonzalez said Pakistani authorities are investigating the incident.
"On the road they were attacked by an improvised explosive device which exploded and damaged one of the vehicles, the two personnel inside were slightly injured," said Gonzales.
Pakistani officials say the blast killed one local bystander and wounded at least 11 other people.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and warned of further violence.
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The attack is the first targeting Westerners in Pakistan, since U.S. special forces killed bin Laden during a May 2 raid in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.
There have been other deadly attacks claimed by the Taliban in the meantime, including twin suicide bombings last week that killed more than 80 recruits at a police academy in the country's northwest.
In Pakistan, there is widespread concern that militant backlash to the U.S. raid would be felt most severely by Pakistanis. As security analyst and former Pakistani ambassador to Afghanistan Rustam Shah Mohmand puts it, it is the average man on the street in Pakistan who is suffering the most in the fight against terrorism.
"It is the Pakistanis who are suffering -- who have been suffering now for many years. The common man, poor people, the rank-and-file Pakistanis are bearing the brunt [of the violence]," said Mohmand.
Mohmand says the extremist movement has lost considerable public support due to its violent campaigns in the past. The former ambassador says this lack of support, coupled with Pakistan's counterterrorism efforts, means there is little chance of a coordinated, sustained terror campaign to avenge bin Laden's death.
"There is no established hierarchy. The resources are not there," Mohmand said. "The community support which is wider is not there. So whereas there will be sporadic, haphazard attacks - here and there - but an organized campaign, pursued in an organized way - over a period of time does not look to me to be a possibility."
Regardless, the Pakistani Taliban has demonstrated the ability to launch attacks throughout the country for the past several years. The frequency of attacks has prompted the Pakistani military to engage the militants in an extended campaign against their strongholds in the country's northwest.
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Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of France has been released on bail from a New York jail cell, after being charged and then held for attempted rape. But only one day after his resignation, the debate over who should replace him has already begun.
Despite pleading innocence, the images of Dominique Strauss-Kahn in handcuffs was unbecoming of the leader of the global banking institution.
Guilty or not, many - including U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner say the damage has already been done. "Of course, I can't comment on the case, but he's obviously not in a position to run the IMF," he said.
The race to find a successor is underway. But political analyst Daniel Gros says finding a leader that can satisfy all of the IMF's 185 member countries will not be easy.
"Everybody in the world will, of course, be competing now, but we have to realize that the emerging countries also have widely different interests. Think about China versus India versus Brazil. So it will be very difficult to find somebody who serves the political interests of any one group," said Gros.
Since its founding, the top job at the IMF has traditionally been filled by a European. But there is growing opposition to that arrangement. Beijing insists the IMF's future leader should reflect the growing clout of developing nations.
And the list of potential candidates is long: They include Zhu Min, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China; Agustin Carstens, Mexico's central bank governor; and South Africa's former finance chief, Trevor Manuel.
But Owen Barder at the Center for Global Development sees difficulty for non-European candidates. "It will be easier for Europe to come up with a single candidate who they want to nominate than it will be for the emerging markets to get an agreement. They don't necessarily have the mechanisms and the history of nominating a single candidate. So the danger is, that Europeans, because they're used to doing it, will find someone very quickly and try to push them forward as a fait accompli," said Barder.
Early European favorites include Axel Weber, the former president of Germany's Bundesbank and French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde. Right now, economist Jacob Kirkegaard says the frontrunner status belongs to Lagarde.
"Because one, she's a very skillful policymaker. She's got a lot of experience, both in Europe obviously, but also at the G20 level. And she has, for better or worse, the advantage - she would represent a new face to the IMF and international organizations because she would be the first woman to run such an organization," stated Kirkegaard.
Ultimately, all sides agree the choice must be based on merit.
"It could be a European, it could be someone from an emerging market or even an American -- the point again being that you should really focus on the fact that you need a credible, well respected, policy heavyweight," added Kirkegaard.
Together, the United States and European nations hold more than 50 percent of the voting power at the IMF. The U.S. has yet to take a position on who can best fill the vacuum left behind by Strauss-Kahn's stunning departure.
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Yemen's president called for early elections during a speech to supporters in the capital Sana'a on Friday, as thousands of opponents renewed demands for his immediate resignation.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh said early presidential elections could avoid "bloodshed." However, he did not specify when the voting would take place.
As he spoke, anti-government protesters rallied at another location in the capital. The dual rallies took place after a deal, brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), to end Yemen's unrest stalled for a second time.
On Wednesday, the GCC ended an effort to get Saleh and opposition leaders to sign a plan that offers Saleh immunity from prosecution if he transfers power to a deputy within 30 days of signing.
News organizations quoted Yemeni officials as saying Saleh objected to at least one of the opposition figures who had planned to sign the deal.
Last month, similar plans to sign the agreement stalled after Saleh refused to sign in his capacity as president, as required. He said he would only sign as head of the ruling General People's Congress party.
Meanwhile, the GCC announced plans to meet on Sunday to discuss Yemen's political crisis. Ministers in the six-nation council will meet in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
There are conflicting reports as to whether a final deal will be brokered and signed by both sides.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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The leaders of Japan, South Korea, and China are visiting the city nearest to the nuclear plant that has been leaking radiation since the devastating March 11 tsunami and earthquake.
The three leaders are scheduled Saturday to go to an evacuation center to offer condolences to those displaced by the accident. Afterward, the leaders will proceed to Tokyo for a two-day summit.
The summit, the fourth annual meeting of the three Asian leaders, is expected to focus on increasing cooperation for dealing with natural disasters and on nuclear safety, as well as trade issues. Japan has been looking forward to the summit as a chance to mend ties with China following a bitter territorial dispute last year.
But preparations hit a snag earlier this week, when Japan's prime minister Naoto Kan proposed opening the meeting at Fukushima. In an editorial Thursday, China's Communist party-controlled Global Times accused Japan of mishandling the event. The paper said it is "rare" for a host country to be vague about the location of a major summit just days before it is to begin and described the confusion over the venue as "a diplomatic setback" that "never should have occurred."
Japan's proposal was dropped, and the leaders agreed instead to the visit with evacuees. South Korean president Lee Myung-Bak and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao also will pay separate visits further north in Japan to areas devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Radiation continues to leak from the Fukushima plant, where cooling systems were knocked out by the tsunami leading to core meltdowns in at least one and as many as three of the six reactors.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP.
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The U.N. General Assembly has elected 15 countries to join the 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council. The lead-up to Friday's vote was overshadowed by Syria's uncontested candidacy which was widely criticized because Damascus has been locked in a bloody two-month crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Candidates are chosen to run by their regional groups. The Asian Group has four seats on the council, one allotted for an Arab country. Syria was originally slated to stand for that seat but dropped its bid earlier this month under growing international pressure because of its violent actions against peaceful protesters seeking democratic reform.
Kuwait stepped in, the two countries saying they had decided to "swap" terms, with Kuwait standing for the 2011 to 2013 term and Syria saying it would postpone its candidacy until 2014.
Despite dropping its bid, Syria garnered what appeared to be five renegade votes Friday. Kuwait received 166, well above the 97 votes needed.
Only two regional groups had contested seats - Eastern Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean.
In the end, the Czech Republic and Romania prevailed over Georgia to win the Eastern Europe Group's two available seats, and Chile, Peru and Costa Rica beat out Nicaragua for their three available regional seats.
Costa Rica's U.N. Ambassador Eduardo Ulibarri noted that human rights are a major component of his government's foreign and domestic policy. He said Costa Rica would bring to the council its objectiveness and make a conscious effort to not allow the council to become politicized - a charge often leveled by its critics.
"We are also determined to be active in going against any gross aggression against human rights throughout the world, regardless of the kind of political regime that commits those aggressions," said Ulibarri. "And at the same time, we think that it is very important to have a constructive approach in the council in the sense of trying to promote, for example, human rights education and training throughout the world, and also helping those countries who want to improve their standards and their record in human rights to build their own capacities in order to move forward in that direction."
Other countries joining the Geneva-based council are the Congo, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Benin, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Italy and Austria. Each of the newly elected countries will serve a three-year term.
Austrian Ambassador Thomas Mayr-Harting spoke about one of the issues Vienna would like to work on during its term.
"One of the issues that we decided we would like to work on is the protection of minorities, which is something we have a strong commitment for, including religious minorities, where as you know, there is quite some concern these days," said Mayr-Harting.
While India's Deputy Ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri said the pursuit of human rights for all countries would be his government's goal.
"The need to respect human rights; the need to nurture human rights; to promote human rights," said Singh Puri.
The Geneva-based Human Rights Council was created five years ago, and is responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the world. The body addresses human rights violations and makes recommendations on them. But many critics say it is made up of countries with their own poor human rights records and an agenda that includes bashing Israel.
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The former head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, could be released from New York's Rikers Island jail as soon as Friday, to await trial on sexual assault charges while on an electronic monitor.
A judge granted his bail request Thursday, under the condition that he put up $1 million bail and another $5 million bond secured by a family home. The French national is also to be watched by an armed guard while living in a rented New York apartment. He has surrendered his passport to U.S. authorities.
The conditions are intended to guarantee that Strauss-Kahn will appear in court for the trial on charges he sexually assaulted a hotel maid on Saturday. He could face decades in prison if convicted. Prosecutors opposed bail, arguing that Strauss-Kahn has the wealth and connections needed to leave the United States.
Strauss-Kahn resigned his IMF post late Wednesday. He strongly denies the charges, for which he was indicted (formally charged) Thursday. An arraignment hearing is set for June 6.
Strauss-Kahn is a former French finance minister, and had been expected to declare his candidacy for the French presidency soon. News accounts before his arrest said he had a chance to oust current President Nicolas Sarkozy.
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South Korean media are reporting that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is visiting China.
South Korean government sources on Friday initially said that Kim Jong Un had apparently crossed into China at the border city of Tumen. The unprecedented visit would allow him to make crucial personal connections in the country that is North Korea's most important friend.
But later in the day, South Korean media, citing sources in Seoul and in China, said that Kim Jong Il had been spotted.
There was no information on whether the younger Kim was with his father.
Professor Yang Moo-jin at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul says China would be an obvious choice for the heir-apparent's first official overseas trip.
He explains that Kim Jong Un is highly likely to be promised China's firm support and cooperation on the succession plan. And there would be discussions about Chinese economic support, as well.
China, in addition to being North Korea's most significant diplomatic ally, is the impoverished country's primary source of food and other aid.
A spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry, Chun Hae-sung, says Seoul has been anticipating that the younger Kim, who is in his late 20's would make such a trip.
Chun says the South Korean government is closely monitoring the situation, but since neither Beijing nor Pyongyang has publicly confirmed the visit the Unification Ministry cannot officially comment on it.
These types of official trips are usually confirmed by either China or North Korea only once the distinguished visitor has safely returned home.
The elder Kim, who is 69, is believed to have suffered a stroke two-and-a-half years ago.
Last September, Kim Jong Un was appointed to the second highest military post within North Korea's only political party and given other senior positions. That was interpreted as the most significant indication that he is poised to eventually succeed his father.
Kim Jong Il also succeeded his father, Kim Il Sung, North Korea's founder.
In recent months, Pyongyang has made an urgent appeal for international aid. South Korea has said it will only resume significant aid after North Korea apologizes for last year's sinking of one of its warships and the shelling of a frontier island.
North Korea denies attacking the South Korean naval vessel and says that the island bombardment was an act of self-defense during a provocative South Korean military exercise involving disputed waters.
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